English Version

Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, my family lived in a small village called Burbach. We owned about 20 icelandic horses and worked closely together with Bruno Podlech who´s farm Wiesenhof is located in the same village. Amongst the excellent horses we called our own at the time ist Hrafnsey frá Syðra-Vallholti a daughter of Hrafn frá Holtsmúla who is the highest evaluated 4gaited horse (after IPO) since her Falkenhorst evaluation in 1985 with a total of 8,49 (rideab 8,52 confi 8,45 9.5 for tölt and trot) She represented Iceland at the EM in Sweden the same year. Hrafnsey was very successful in german sport winning several German Champion titles in tölt and 4g with her trainer Karl Heinz Zachmann. Amongst other sport horses we owned was Reginn a 5g gelding who also won several titles in his career amongst them German Champion in 5g and pace test.
I myself got my first own horse when I was 6 years old Ljóska frá Stóra-Hófi best horse ever!!! Loved that mare, learned so much from her. I was kind of raised on horseback with my mom riding and taking lessons regularly. I think I started taking lessons when I was 4 years old and from then on very regularly on Wiesenhof. I started competing on tournaments when I was 6 years old and did that a lot until I moved to Iceland.
I was just 12 years old when I qualified with Hrafnsey for the DIM in Falkenhorst Germany. I wished I would have been older to ride this kind of horse so much spirit and willingness not very easy at times but taught me a lot. I competed a lot through my childhood years winning several German youth Champion titles in different classes.

1983 – 1989
1983 – 1989 Learning years when I took a lot of seminars and trained my horses with Jolly Schrenk who by then was trainer at Mönchhof about 10 min away from where I lived. I was also competing a lot at that time.

1990-1992
I started working at Wiesenhof and did so for 2 years. Great experience being involved in all fields like training, riding lessons, shoeing, breeding.....and so on.

1991
Got my Trainer B license from IPZV just 18 years old. In september of that year I decided to go to the USA to work on the farm of Ulla Bassaleck´s in New Mexico. Had a great time.

1992
I moved to Hamburg to work for 1 year at Andrea-K Rostock in the Icelandic horse breeding association office. I started with my new competition horse Elska-mín von Ellenbach, competing successfully in german sport through the next years Sport A class in F1 and T2 including german youth champion in those categories.

1994
I wanted to go to the USA again and decided to spent 4 month at Flying C Ranch in California to work there.

1994-1995
I worked at Faxaból, Jón Steinbjörnsons farm in the north of Germany. While I was there I spotted out a very beautiful young mare from Iceland who had just arrived and was still not broken or trained just 4 years old. Her name was Eldbrá frá Staðarbakka and I bought her and started training her.

1995-1996
I worked at Rúna Einarsdóttir and Karly Zingsheims place, showing Eldbrá in her first breeding evaluation 6years old 1996 at Vollemer Muehle. She got a total of 8,19 as a 4g mare (rideab 8,17 confirm 8,20) I started to compete on her the same summer and she immediately qualified for Sport A in 4 gait and is very successful in tölt also this summer just 6y old.

1997
Got FEIF intl Sports Judge license after seminar and test in Reykjavík.

1997-1998
I moved to Iceland to work for the Southern Icelandic Breeding Association at their training facilities in Gunnarsholt. It was a training stable for the most promising stallions in the country. The trainers there were Eiríkur Guðmundsson and Þórður Þorgeirsson amongst Magnús Benediktsson and me. Among the stallions we had in training and showed at various shows were Hrynjandi frá Hrepphólum, Andvari frá Ey, Mjölnir frá Dalbæ, Sörli frá Búlandi and Ljósvaki frá Akureyri. I treasure the time at Gunnarsholt a lot, to have gotten the opportunity to work with and learn from the best riders in Iceland on the best horses that Iceland has to offer. Eiríkur was and Þórður is what you would call in german "Naturtalente", they were just born with it and it was amazing to watch them how they do things. They were not guys of many words so you either watched and learned or you didn´t. To this day I am deeply thankful for the time I got at Gunnarsholt which definately marked the road I am on today with breeding and training my horses. And I sure can say: The key to success is not necessarily written down in books or taught to you by teachers, it´s the feeling you have and the way you use it with the creature.

1998
I worked one winter at Torfastaðir a farm in the south of Iceland. Got the licence from FT Félag Tamingamanna the icelandic horse trainer association (with recommendations).

1999-2000
I worked at Þórður Þorgeirsson´s stable in Hella where I developed the passion for breeding horses and selecting and starting young horses even more. Amongst the quality stallions I got to know there were Forsæti frá Vorsabæ, Askur frá Kanastöðum, Dynur frá Hvammi, Tígull frá Gígjarhóli, Penni frá Glæsibæ.....and many more. As I said it helped me a lot in my own development as a rider and trainer to have had the privilege to ride that kind of quality horses because that´s how you get the feeling of where you are going in training and of course breeding.

2001-2012
Between 2001 and 2014 I have been more or less working in an Optical Shop in Reykjavik to do something else for a while then just horses. During that time I off course kept breeding, training, buying and selling my own horses but stopped taking in training for others and reduced teaching abroard. In these years lies also the beginning of me helping friends and other people finding their "best match" here in Iceland and I really love what I do today. I know that my being born into the business and having so much knowledge and experience in all fields over so many years of it really brings out the best in me at my job today finding high quality horses for people and building great horse rider relationships. When people ask me today why are you not judging, competing or teaching anymore I always say: "All my life with horses has just been a great evolution where every part has had its timeframe and helped me to find out where my place is. That´s where I am at today.

2012 - to date
Since 2012 I am self employed in selling horses and finding horses for my customers. I have been working very closely together with selected trainers and farms in Iceland now for many years. Árni Björn Pálsson, Þórarinn Eymundsson, Jakob Svavar Sigurðsson and farms like Austurás, Sunnuhvoli, Árbæjarhjáleigu and Árbæ are my inner circle. I know how they train horses over many years, I have tried and ridden many horses after them, I like their breeding values and how the horses are treated and appreciated. This is something very important to me in finding the right horse for each customer and I would want to have it exactly that way if I would look for a new horse myself. I breed a little myself under the name Karlshaga with two already self bred highly evaluated mares Hnota (8.44) and Fífa (8.52) frá Stóra-Vatnsskarði. I start each of my horses always myself to get to know them so well that I can make the right decision for them in the future. doch